Happenings

Keep up with the recent happenings in Athens!

Usually straight from: AoH Mailing List, though please feel free to add information even if you are not a member of the list!


September 22, 2011
We're heading into the fall season, and soon we'll be seeing the daily chores open again for the harvest festival. It's the only way to currently save up for a steed (horse/camel/pony) in game, so be on the lookout for when that opens.

If you didn't feel your makeover needs were sated by the Salon opening, then Premium members have now had their needs further sated by the opening of Cheilia's Cosmetics in the Estate. Those who are not Premium for the moment CAN ask a fellow premium member to buy makeup for them. An example, just having someone look at my own character:
She has a beautiful shade of russett red on her lips, very long, wavy dark brown hair that is loose, crystal blue eyes decorated with blossoming flowers in slate kohl and accented with plum wine eye shadow, and tanned skin with a hint of cherry blossom blush on her cheeks.

The kohl and I -believe- the eyeliner sold have different twists/turns in order to have differing styles or to wear them plainly. This is especially useful to people who want to add a more Egyptian flair to their characters, as several symbols of Egypt and just the extended line are an option in choices. Both the eyeshadow and blush compacts have a mirror inside them if you want to see how your makeup looks.

With the death of the cyclops, things have been relatively quiet of late…though the Sidhe are still at war with each other and occasionally the Athenians see the fallback of that. One new-to-us Unseelie, Sceimhle, seem to actually be well.. insane. He likely would happily kill us all, except for an order by his Prince, Keir, to keep the mortal causalities out of Athens. The Seelie Sidhe Clovius has also returned from his journeys, which may be fortuitous to Athens. I say "may" because he's still a Sidhe and still enjoys trickery where he can get it. Still, he's proved an ally in the past.

As usual, we can also no doubt things to start getting spooky once October hits, though it's anyone's guess what will happen this year.


May 13, 2011
You can't kill a stone. Of course, a stone can't kill you either, but then you turn your head away. Then you blink. Then, oh yes, it can.

Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good Luck.

The first message appeared in the game and the second showed up on the AOHGM Twitter. Confused? Well, all I'll say is be careful of any statues you may see in Athens. Not everything is as it appears. (And you're also missing a reference to one of the best episodes of one of one of the best shows ever if you don't get it.) Fortunately, the GMs have been better with the twitter than I have been with updating the mailing list this last year!


November 2, 2009
The sacrifice to Ares was successful, with Korimachi even having an Amazon warhorse waiting for the Athenians on top of the cliffs - after shields were gathered and banged on to scared off the Ornithes Areos (the sacred birds of Ares) off temporarily to allow the path to be accessed. Ares did not allow the horse to be sacrificed, incidentally, it would appear it had been one he was envious of even when it was in Korimachi's care so he took it for himself and was impressed by the Athenian determination of getting to the isle and facing him even though they could have easily died. Thus, at the shrine Hippolyta built, Ares was appeased for the death of his daughters, and Korimachi declared that even the restless spirits of his daughters would be allowed to go to reward now. Korimachi also let us know that the shields were those of the Argonauts themselves, which she had instructed her most loyal to collect for the Athenians to use. The Isle of Ares and the swamp before it can be found on the Geography page of aohwiki.pbworks.com, where the Athenians have been encouraged to help thin out the flock of the birds as they repopulate too quickly to keep under control. The easiest birds in the first part of the swamp are level 100, the medium birds are 115, and the hardest that actually remain on the isle are 130. Those who were at the event may find their shields from that day particularly useful when fighting against the birds, while others are encouraged to take up shields as well as it still helps against some of the special attacks from the birds. The doll shop in Oinoe has dolls of Korimachi, Katagaida, and Yanamai in the backroom as part of their special collector's dolls, though there's no telling when they'll be switched out for others. All three have visited the gate hence, indicating that the war is over, but they may still occasionally test the mettle of their warriors against Athens in order to keep their own Amazons sharp in what they referred to as training sessions.

As can be expected, the Masquerade Ball was not simply dressing up and enjoying each other's comPany. After a way into the underworld was opened briefly, it seems some restless souls got even more restless, taking over some Athenians and apparently determined to find their lost loves…. who they were convinced were other Athenians, regardless of marital status or even mutual hatred. I have to comment here that the possessed Athenians were absolutely -hilarious- to watch and I applaud you all for making me laugh so hard you made it very difficult for me to deal with playing Leanna! In the end, all the souls were more… or less… convinced that their lost loves weren't present and from what we could tell, they were reuinited with their loved ones in a better place. The Athenians locked into the ballroom by that point didn't fair so well…furniture, walls, and apparitions made quick work of their lives at midnight.

Autolycus also has recently brought through time an unexpected tagalong. Dementius, who died around five years ago, was stumbled across by Autolycus in the past when Autolycus was using the orb for… ahem… not so noble purposes. Dementius was slashed by one of the pursuers after Autolycus, who turned out to be the time guardians following the will of Hel. As a result, Katakto, the purple one of the dragons, was required to come and cauterize the wound down Dementius's face before he bled to death and became an undead servant of the goddess. When the wound was closed, the image of an enraged howling wolf appeared over Dementius's face, perhaps a hint that Fenrir is aiding his sister despite his shackles, though it's hard to say, and the flame of a dragon did the trick just like Sodi had said it would. Dementius, himself, only recalls things as they were roughly six or seven years ago, before he caught the disease that killed him. Mathaino, the silver dragon, came tonight and further healed the wound, letting it become a scar.

Also, there happens to be a new Salon in Athens, found by going west of the Halade gate and looking for a large building before you go northwest. You can change your hair length, color, style (with special styles for premium members), eyes, and skin. Holyph and Sunako stated there would be more to come at the salon, but it was desired for this part to get out before the ball. It is permanently open for all needs. It can be found on the map here.


October 9, 2009
According to Queen Korimachi of the Amazons following Ares, we will be shown the way to the Isle of Ares where the Shrine of Hippolyta is located on Sunday (October 11th). Don't let the name confuse you- it was a famous shrine Hippolyta built for Ares. We haven't been given an exact time, but this sort of thing normally happens in the evening, so those that intend to go, be around. We have been given formal warning, however, that any who insult Ares on his own sacred ground will be killed by Korimachi herself. The Amazons have also given warning that due to Ares's impatience, attacks will escalate tomorrow so be careful in and around the city.


September 28, 2009
The Vrykolakas may be busy trying to handle their council at present to not send an assasin to Athens, but that doesn't mean all is quiet. The god of war, Ares, has decreed a war itself on Athens for the reason he states of Queen Hippolyta's murder. While there are various myths as to how she, and her sister Antiope died, the particular myth chosen was that Antiope had already been killed when Hercules and Theseus (King of Athens) made the trade for the girdle of Hippolyta. There seems to be some modifications to this, the main one being that Hercules was unaware of Theseus's treachery in having killed Antiope and was unable due to the Athenian soldiers with Theseus to stop him from kidnapping Hippolyta. This is likely to keep Hercules's reputation consistent in the game, because the game Hercules isn't really the type to approve of abducting and murdering women. From what the Amazons, the chosen warriors sent by Ares, said, Ares is sincere in this war and truly does desire revenge.

The first war on Athens, led by the Amazons without a true queen in place as both sisters had been killed or abducted, is said in myths to be the one responsible for destroying the Amazon nation, which is why it may have taken some time for Ares to gather a force again. It can be presumed from the plotline of Hercules still being alive, that Theseus would have died very shortly before the game opened 11 years ago. The whole fiasco probably happened within a short time before that, so any who grew up in Athens probably would know of Queen Hippolyta's disgrace, the Amazon defeat, as well as the death of Hippolytus, the son of Hippolyta and Theseus. In typical AOH fashion, the Athenians do take some of Theseus's wind out of his sails, for they were the ones to kill the Minotaur… not Theseus. It's potentially possible by THAT timeline that Theseus was still king and he just was never utilized and he took all the credit for the Minotar kill. Ironically, according to the myths, Theseus became so unpopular that the king of Skyros, Lycomedes, actually threw him over a cliff to his death (on Skyros). The irony in it lies with the fact that the kingdom of Skyros is also where Achilles was sent to safety at an Oracle's prophecy that he would die at Troy (this being before the Trojan war started), disguised as a girl by his mother…. but Achilles fell in love with one of Lycomedes's daughters and had a son named Neoptolemus, and both eventually got summoned into the war at Troy. Where Achilles did die, but only after killing the Amazon Queen, Penthesileia, who fought on the Trojan side and was a daughter of Ares. Significantly, Ares and Aphrodite were among the gods on the Trojan side, Hera and Athena were on the Greek side. At the death of Penthesileia, The Fall of Troy describes in great detail Ares's wrath and grief over the fall of his child, only being able to be stopped by Zeus himself. Ares then even considered going over Zeus's commands and killing Achilles himself anyway, but recalls how Zeus lost a ton of kids in war and never revenged them. Basically, Zeus proves again to be a deadbeat dad, but Ares is placated by the Greeks handing his daughter's corpse back over to Troy for her to have an honorable funeral - which they mostly did because she was so beautiful and fierce that even Achilles lamented killing her and had wished to take her home as his wife.

So. What does this have to do with Athens? Theseus technically predates the Trojan War, as one of his sons with Phaedra (the chick he cast Hippolyta out for) was in the Trojan War. However, Theseus is also accredited with killing the Minotaur, who was very much alive when the Athenians dealt with him about 7 years ago. We also know Telemachus, son of Odysseus, is alive and was only in likely his 20s when he helped us with an event roughly 5-6 years ago. So, it stands to reason that Odysseus is also still ruling his kingdom, even though we have never met him. Theseus's rein would have been more recent than expected, and that places a large portion of the blame on quite alot of current citizens of Athens, or at least their parents. We're at most probably talking 30 years here, though the timeline of events seems to cut it closer than that. But this isn't definite science, as we're also in the rule of Cleopatra (who originally, four years ago, entered the game as a 16 year old girl who's father's health was quickly fading. In 51 BC, Cleopatra takes the throne at 18, one to two years after her first in game appearance depending on how close her birthday was), and Alexander the Great is dead, which historically, should have happened much, much later than the Trojan war, but before Cleopatra. So we can surmise that the mythical elements are not playing within the rules of the historical, which can be considered a good thing as most of the great 'heroes' or even villains of myth predate what would be our historical time period, including Hercules and Autolycus. Aesop also has even paid us a couple visits, and his actual time period was roughly 400-500ish years before Cleopatra. But the mixing up of historical and mythological didn't start with the game- the show the game was originally based on thrived on this concept.

So all of you who play characters that are citizens of Athens at birth, are ,well, not that innocent. At MOST, it would have been your parents fighting off the Amazons and responsible for the death of Otrera, who mythologically is debated as either a wife of Ares or a daughter, yet definitely the mother of Hippolyta and Antiope, but in the game, has been stated to be a lover. In one version of the myths, Penthesileia accidentally killed Hippolyta, which is why she chose to go to war in Troy because she wanted to die honorably in battle as a daughter of Ares, but she did want to die for her grief, but in the game it has been stated that Penthesileia predated Hippolyta and Hippolyta did not die in any sort of battle after she was cast out of Athens. Scholars of Greek myth speculate that the invention of Athens defeating the Amazons in the first place was an example of the civilization of men overcoming the barbaric nation of women, thus showing both civilization and men to be superior to women and those who did not wish to dwell in the cities.

Long story short, Ares wants his revenge on Athens for the death of both his daughters, his lover, and his grandson (Yep, Theseus was a real winner. He killed his own son, Hippolytus, after Phaedra lied to Theseus and said he had made unwanted advances on her… when she had been the one doing the advancing). Ares's current choice of Amazon Queen, Korimachi, has led the attacks on Athens with two other Amazons, Yanamai and Kataigaida. It would appear that Korimachi does not particularly desire the war, but follows Ares's commands. She has given some hints on how the war can be stopped - to placate Ares by sacrifice and offering to show remorse for the deaths of his family - but at present is saying she is still trying to find a way to let the Athenians access the Isle of Ares, where a shrine was built by Hippolyta for her father and is a very sacred place to the Amazons. There are still birds guarding it, with feathers as sharp as arrows or darts, birds given to Hippolyta as a gift from her father. These birds are likely of the same breed as the Stymphalian, but the Stymphalian myth says that what birds Hercules did NOT manage to kill, fled to the Isle of Ares, and when the Argonauts later arrived at it and killed quite a many more of them, they still did not kill them all. So it is probably safe to say it has been repopulated.

Traps have also been laid outside of the Peiraic and the Halade gates, so far seeming to be mostly arrows, though it is unsure what awaits. The war continues until peace can somehow be reached, while Korimachi has started sending in less deadly, but more agile troops, in order to make the war, in her words, more on equal footing.

For the record, so people know what sources I am getting information from,
Theoi.com: Ares, Otrera, Hippolyte (also spelled Hippolyta), Penthesileia
Wikipedia.com: Theseus, Aesop
About.com: Cleopatra's Timeline
And reviewing the collection of myths in The Greek Myths, Volume II by Robert Graves, a prominent author and translator of Ancient Greek and Classical Latin texts.


September 7, 2009
Hierra is now open permanently, housing upper level lycanthropes as well as a cavern village with some unique goods. The Vrykolakas once again acted as aid to the Athenians, scouting the island to locate a fabled weapon called the Scimitar of the Moon, which was said to have held an evil enchantment that corrupted the wielder and grant power and command over the lycanthropes. These would be the same lycanthropes who took over the attack on Athens made by the necromanceress Zandramas about a year ago, in order to try to have a larger realm in which to play than the island which the Vrykolakas have been able to contain them to. Basilikos and Vinnee kept the stronger lycanthropes busy while the scimitar was destroyed and the ritual's sacrifice (a young child) was saved with the help of Poliereas, one of the lead warrior priestesses of Persephone who hails from the isle of Hierra herself. (The vision from the oracle of Delphi concerning this can be found here. )

Sodi, a great black dragon who normally takes human form, has been revealed to be the "Traveler" related to the three orbs. It would seem our enemies are not merely mortals who want the power to change time, but the very followers of the norse goddess Hel and guardians of time that have been corrupted to follow her will. They have succeeded in wounding Sodi a couple times, one wound severe enough that he did actually turn dragon outside of the bar and had to be fetched by Runa (in his dragon form)/Loros (in his human form). The intention seems to be to change something rather drastically in the past… which will result in most of the world not existing as it is, including Athens. The Athenians currently possess one orb, capable of killing anyone who holds it too long, Autolycus holds the second, and Sodi holds the third. Only by uniting them will the orbs be secured from outside interference… but it is likely uniting them will destroy them, and the damage being wrought in the past must be fixed before the orbs can be destroyed.

In a bit farther back, Bacchus managed to poison all the wine again, and quite a few females fell prey to his ill-intentions. He released them only after he had gotten the revenge he sought- the death of Dionysus, who fell by a specially wrought weapon at the hands of Bacchus in front of his own shrine in Athens. Several months passed with Dionysus no longer being part of this world, before Bacchus acted again, taking back those who he had taken before and spreading his influence out further. The Vrykolakas did their best to temper the farther reaching damage as well as aid those corrupted with their blood lust, for it seems the Vrykolakas have no love for Bacchus. The Athenians were finally able to get ahold of Pan, after roughly a week of the newly-turned Bacchae slowly losing their humanity. Pan was able to set up quite a few false rituals after items were obtained by the Athenians from everywhere he requested…ranging from places simply in Athens to Mt. Pentelikon. On the eve of the ritual, all involved were kidnapped, those lost to Bacchus's influence tricked into thinking it was Bacchus's will and those wishing to fight Bacchus being pulled along by satyrs to a remote shrine of Dionysus. It was there that the ritual was performed and Dionysus was able to return to living, though clearly exhausted from the experience. Bacchus himself showed, mocking Dionysus for falling in the first place and pointing out to his fellow wine god that it was too late, for many mortals had already been killed and many maenads as well. Dionysus has not been seen much after all that occured, likely trying to deal with his losses and his own frustration over Bacchus's success. Though the Athenians are all currently free of Bacchus's influence, Bacchus is a continued threat and seems to have no intention of letting this war end soon.

Problems cotinue to abound with Ziminos, as he has been sending worms to attack any who visit Grigoros's shrine in Apeilos and at the gate. Ziminos has consumed Deasher, the alchemist from the village of Apeilos, and allows her to mend the child Grigoros's wounds in between torment and torture. Dissonos has been mentioned… but not seen. It's anyone's guess where things will be heading from here.

Diathesixifos has also visited Athens, and for a little dinar revealed that Drakontas has apparently been in talks with an Amazon tribe we have yet to meet, and one completely devoted to Ares. Xifos added that Drakontas had apparently even fought the Queen of the tribe and the match was held to a standstill. Drakontas confirmed the treaties and talks, saying the Amazons are entirely brutal and that the Queen was a formidable opponent. What impact this will have on Athens isn't known, but Xifos seemed to think that the Athenians needed to be wary of these new Amazons.


February 20,2008
For those of you not paying attention, a quick run down of the loooong time since I've updated the news. The Fae have escaped imprisonment, but don't seem to hold much malice towards the Athenians now, Drakontas is up to something but no one is quite sure what. Still, Piraeus now has a new park and a 'palace' that is actually a fancy hotel in terms of town improvement under the warlord's control. There is also some new visions from the scrying bowl available in Other Visions.

There is now gold Panning out, which you can check out more in game news, as well as the FLIRT verb. The mentors did a lovely job on their Cupid's day party and quite a visits were paid by both fae and undead alike. The undead being the Vrykolakas (greek vampires) who made themselves known at the Halloween masquerade party in Fall. Basilikos, Vinnee, and Lenore are the Vrykolakas in question and seem to hail from the isle of Thera, though it's not quite certain what they are up to as of yet.

The orb is still in a stand at Athena's temple, one orb is still and with an unknown person, and Autolycus has the orb that works the best. It's unclear how this will progress, but and what harm may come out of them being around.

Grigoros is also active again, though he is almost completely diminished in power and Ziminos has taken full control. There's some more information on that situation at Events, where you can at least read the The Library of Grigoros to get some background on that character. Dissonos is rumored to be returning to town, an event which Ziminos seems to be looking forward to, and has claimed that Dissonos will be the one to 'wake' Ziminos when he returns. Oikistes, Dissonos's partner and previous owner of Sid's bar while Sid was in jail, has also been seen around and seems concerned over his friend's involvement with Grigoros.

Just tonight, Loki himself made an appearance at the gate and briefly discussed the Grigoros situation with the Athenians. Still, he says hewon't act or discuss it further until some of the prophecies have come true. I am going to make an attempt to compile the ramblings and prophecies on the wiki to try to make it easier for everyone to follow along in the event - I would appreciate it if anyone would e-mail me ones they might have from the past because I missed some. I encourage
everyone not to feel overwhelmed with the amount of information, as even people who have been here since Grigoros first showed up are still lost in the cryptic ramblings, me included. ;) Just jump in with both feet and I'll be trying to keep this list more active from now on.

Also, the Premium meeting and raffle is set for Thursday the 28th for those who haven't checked their GAZETTE.


June 24, 2007
By Quinlax:
Well the end of the story has come… or has it? Some people are sad, angry, or just in mourning. The Fae showed up tonight at the scheduled time waiting for the moon of Midsummer Nights Eve to rise before their celebration!

After some idle talk and playful banter, the Fae disappeared and soon after those lucky enough to be chosen by them followed. The people chosen were: Callias who was chosen by Isalinda, Moiria who was chosen by Fostismeras, Vatholian who was chosen by Faileas, Lytaria who was chosen by Fallowthought and yours truly Quinlax who was chosen by Clovius!

Those who were brought with the Fae were treated to a glorious party, with food and drink, and merriment all around. That is until the other Athenians arrived in the realm of the Fae to 'save' the people who were taken.

The saviors however had to break through 6 barriers, each controlled by a particular Fae. The first Entry Barrier held by Isalinda was quickly bypassed, and Isalinda herself suffered severe pain when thebarrier was broken.

The next entry barrier took more time to solve, and was controlled by Fostismeras himself. When his barrier was broken, he also suffered, however he seemed to quickly recover from it.

The third barrier was held by a Fae whos name I won't even begin to try and spell. He was however absent from tonights affair and is unknown how he was affected.

The fourth barrier was held by the youngest Fae, Faileas. It was as far as I understand it, a dance off. Which… she herself solved oddly enough. The effect wasn't as harsh on her, as he barrier was supplemented by magic of the realm itself due to her own powers not fully developed.

The next barrier was controlled by Clovius. And was music based. It took the saviours quite awhile to figure the barrier puzzle out, but once they did, the solved it quickly. While the barrier was being broken, Clovius wretched in pain several times.

The final obstacle was the barrier of trees held by Fallowthought, his trees danced their confusing dancing but soon the Athenians made their way through, finally breaking through all the barriers and arriving in the center with the rest the Athenians and the Fae.

However their the saviors work was not yet done, the their barriers broken, their magic drained the Fae were slowly dying. So as a final act to save them, Kide opened a book created by Fostismeras that sucked the weakened Fae into it's pages, where they are trapped, but kept safe. Finally Fostismeras, in his golden serpent form wrapped himself around the book sealing it with a final barrier before becoming trapped himself.

Afterwards the book was opened, and each page contained a picture of the Fae it contained. But there was no revelry from the Athenians, as they realized what they had done. And with the magic of the Fae gone, their lands slowly withered away, and the Athenians had to make their final escape.


June 23,2007
By Quinlax:
And to start things off is information about our lovely friends the Fae. Tonight marks the night of Midsummer Night's Eve(Saturday June 23rd), and during this Summer Solstice, the Fae will finally be taking their comPanions. This means that the inevitable fight between us and them will be coming soon.

Fostismeras has informed us that unless we're all willing to sacrifice ourselves to their will, the only way to stop them is to enter their realm and destroy them entirely. How exactly we do that we're unsure of, but he warned us if we come with any mercy in our hearts, we will fail as they will show us none. Not much else is known exactly what we will face but the time for the event to happen has been set for around 7:30-8pm Saturday June 23rd, 2007 EST time.

Be there or suffer the end of Athens as we know it!


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